The affluent class in Asia actively invests in structured financial products, with this year's issuance exceeding 258.3 billion yuan | Lianhe Zaobao

Wealthy investors in Asia are heavily investing in structured investment products, with the issuance of related products linked to Singapore and Hong Kong stocks surging 80% this year, totaling over $200 billion (approximately SGD 258.3 billion), setting a new historical high. According to Bloomberg, orders for accumulative notes and fixed coupon notes are on the rise, as estimated by BNP Paribas. Asian stock markets have surged amid the artificial intelligence boom, with many investors focusing on large Chinese tech stocks such as Alibaba and Tencent Holdings, whose popularity has even surpassed that of American tech giant Nvidia. Tony Lee, global equity derivatives strategy head at JP Morgan, stated, "In the past few years, until September last year, the issuance of notes linked to Asian stocks was very limited. With the recovery of the Chinese economy, the underlying assets of these products have shifted from U.S. stocks to Hong Kong stocks." Daniel, a senior trading strategist at Jinma Capital Management, noted that the annualized yield of notes linked to Chinese AI companies typically ranges from 10% to 20%, higher than the 10% to 12% yield of index-linked notes. Since the beginning of this year, Alibaba's stock price in Hong Kong has soared nearly 90%, while the Hang Seng Tech Index has risen 26%, ending years of underperformance compared to U.S. tech stocks. Among the stock-linked notes issued by Royal Bank of Canada, 30% to 40% track stocks listed in Hong Kong this year, up from 20% last year. At that time, about 80% of fixed coupon notes were linked to U.S. stocks. Despite the growing demand for structured products among U.S. investors, Asia remains dominant. According to industry data, over 60% of global sales in the first seven months of this year came from Asia, with the majority from the mainland China and Hong Kong markets. The final returns offered by these products are usually lower than direct stock investments, but they belong to fixed income with regular payouts, often exceeding bond yields, and include some built-in protection mechanisms, making them still attractive to some investors. However, related investments are not without risks. For example, the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the long-term stock market decline triggered by China's crackdown on internet giants have all caused significant losses for structured product investors